The promotion, which was supposed to run from Saturday to Monday, offered two Pokemon trading cards – one standard Pikachu and one randomly chosen from five possible species – with each Happy Meal, according to news website Sora News 24.
Previous collaborations between McDonald’s and Pokemon typically offered reprints of commonly available cards. This release was particularly popular because it featured a new artwork of a Pikachu reaching for a burger as well as a special McDonald’s stamp, gaming news site VGC reported.
As the cards were limited in quantity, thousands of fans swamped restaurants around the country to catch them all. Scalpers were also reportedly using the mobile app to buy Happy Meals in bulk, stripping them of the cards and discarding the food.
The resulting chaos was captured on social media. Users posted photos of people leaving carrying eight to 10 plastic bags of Happy Meals – despite a limit of five per person – as well as unclaimed Happy Meals and uneaten food dumped outside restaurants, triggering cries of food wastage.
One user wrote under the images: “Early morning chaos in Shibuya. McDonald’s burgers and fries scattered on the streets, turning into a feast for pigeons. We ask customers to take responsibility for the food they buy and properly dispose of trash.”
